COVID-19

On March 11 stuff really hit the fan.  The threat of Corona Virus (COVID-19) became real in the United States and Utah.  For a few weeks or months now we have been hearing about this virus on the news and watching it spread throughout China and other countries.  The virus finally made its way to the US via travelers.  The majority were from people catching it while on cruises with people from China.  These people then brought it home to spread unknowingly to others.  Because the incubation period is about two weeks, many people didn't even know they had it until it spread.  This virus attacks the respiratory system making it very hard for the person to breath.  The patient needs oxygen and ventilation apparatuses from the hospital when the symptoms get very bad.  The hospitals were not able to keep up with the demand and the virus is very contagious putting hospital employees at risk.  Because of the quick ability of spread and the deadliness of this virus, COVID-19 has become a pandemic situation.  In a pandemic situation, social distancing is required to slow the spread of the disease.  As a result, on March 11, the governor issued a statement saying that all schools and other large gatherings will be closed for two weeks starting immediately.  Then, on Friday, March 13, President Nelson issued a statement saying that all church meetings and gatherings would cease for the time being in order to slow the spread.  This included church on Sundays, youth activities, and even all temples would be closed.  This was a big shock to everyone.  There was a major run on the grocery stores and many things were scarce.  You could not find toilet paper, sanitizing wipes, or hand sanitizer anywhere.  The grocery store shelves were empty.  Your purchasing was limited to one or two on the things you could find.  This is an uncertain and chaotic time for people, stores, and whole communities.  Basically everything closed down.  

One tender mercy for us was that a few weeks ago, around the end of February, I had a strong impression that I needed to stock our freezer with freezer meals.  I kind of didn't think anything of it and thought I would wait until March with the new food budget.  The nagging feeling would not go away so I put together a menu of about 25 meals and went shopping for all of the food.  I finished preparing all of the meals during the last week of February and our freezer was stocked.  I also took advantage of the case lot sales that were happening at the grocery stores before heading down to St. George for my race.  Our freezer and pantry was stocked with food when the pandemic closures started the next week.  At the time I had know idea why I felt the need to cook and prepare a bunch of meals but now I am so glad I did because we cannot go to the store for at least a month possibly more.  This was definitely a prompting from the Holy Ghost wanting me to get my family prepared.  

Rather than just forget about church during this time, we were encouraged to have church at home.  For the past year or so, the Church has been transitioning to a Home-Centered, Church Supported church.  Through the Come, Follow Me Program, we have been studying more at home.  Because of this, the transition to a home church, was not that difficult.  It is obvious that President Nelson and the leaders of the Church were inspired to get this program in play long before we were required to actually have church at home.  Home church has been really good for us.  The kids really enjoyed watching Russell bless and pass the Sacrament in our home.  It was pretty cool.  

The same thing has happened for school.  Rather than just forgetting about school, the teachers have put all of their assignments online and we are doing school at home as well!  I never thought we would do homeschooling but here we are doing it!  There really has been a learning curve with this homeschooling thing.  We were all really confused and stressed out fighting over the computer and Chromebook from the school at the beginning.  Finally I made a schedule and to do list for all of the kids so that they didn't fight and that has seemed to work so far.

This has been our home for the last couple of weeks:

We have been doing a lot of work on the computer, reading, and science experiments.  Here Colby is experimenting with bridge building, and gravity and friction on an incline.  Everyday the kids have to read, do Reflex (a math game), Math assignments, writing, and anything else their teacher assigns.  At first I tried to be the task master and nag them to get their work done.  That was not working and there were tears and stress and it was not good.  Finally, after making the list for them, I told them they had to do these things each day and let them go as fast or slow as they wanted.  Some days were really long but other days they got done really fast.

Here are some of the books we have been reading:

The teachers also put together Spirit Week activities for each day.  We had fun days like Crazy Sock day, Pajama Day, School Spirit Day, and Scavenger Hunt day.  Someone in our neighborhood painted all of these rocks and hid them throughout the neighborhood.  The kids had a good time searching for them.

On March 16 we put together a Leprechaun Trap for St. Patrick's Day.  Everyone worked together and gave great ideas for the trap.

The next day we found this note from our leprechaun, Lucky.  He must be getting pretty lazy because the note said that he didn't even try to get into the trap this year.  He said that he was too afraid he would get caught because of how good the trap was.  Instead he left us some chocolate gold coins for our efforts.

During this quarantine, we have been doing a lot of fun activities as a family.  Because everything has been cancelled, we have more time to spend together.  We have also not been able to see friends or other people.  One afternoon, we spent a few hours decorating our driveway and sidewalk with chalk.

Along with our pictures, we wrote a bunch of inspirational messages.  That way, if anyone walked passed our house, they could read our messages and feel better about this crazy time.  The kids had a great time decorating the cement and thinking of fun things to write for others.  

I have been doing a lot of running at this time.  It is really my only time out of the house.

I don't have any races coming up because everything has been cancelled but I keep running. I think I have ran more these weeks than I have driven! 

We have also been doing a lot of social distancing.  It is recommended that we stay at least six feet away from other people.  We took that to heart and got away from everyone and took the four-wheelers out in the mountains.

It was a perfect day to take the four-wheeleers out.  This was the first time we have ridden the four-wheelers this year.  We decided to go up to Millville Canyon and explore that area.  We have never been up there before so it was cool to see everything.  We drove up the canyon as far as we could until the snow on the road became too deep for the green four-wheeler.  Since it doesn't have four wheel drive, it cannot go as many places as the red one.  We found this open area and decided to stop and look around.  We had lunch and explored the cliffs and streams.

The kids had a great time getting out of the house finally.  They were able to just run and have fun as they looked around.  While they were looking for cool rock, Colby found this fossil of a shell.  Emily faced her fear and balanced across this log to cross the stream.  Logan and Charlotte threw snowballs into the water to see how long and far they would float until they melted.  This was such a fun day.

When we turned back to head to the truck, we could see this awesome view of the Valley.  I think we will be doing a lot more four-wheeling during this quarantine time.

Because of the social distance requirements, the kids piano lessons have also changed.  Now, instead of going to their teacher's house for lessons, they do lessons at home via Zoom.  Zoom is video chat program.  So they are playing our piano while their teacher is watching them through video on the phone.  They can hear, see, and talk to each other remotely.  They are also having chats with their school teachers and classmates this way through another program called Google Meet.

Every year at this time, the kids have a special piano recital to show off their AIM Performance songs.  Because of the restrictions, their piano recital was also held remotely on Facebook.  They played their songs at home and we recorded them.  Then we posted the video to our piano teacher's Facebook page so that the other students could watch and listen to their performance and we could listen to theirs.

This was definitely an interesting way to have a piano recital but we did it.  One nice thing about it was that we were able to also share their performance with other family member so that they could enjoy it as well.  Grandparents really liked that because they usually miss their recitals.

Another funny thing that has been going on is the appearance of turkeys.

There has been one turkey that we have named as our friendly, neighborhood turkey. This turkey has been seen all over our neighborhood.  We even had a fun game going on with our neighbors that they would post a picture of the turkey every time they saw it.  We called the game "Where is Mr. Turkey Today?"  One time, the turkey was on top of Russell's truck.  Russell was definitely not pleased with this because he knew the turkey was going to scratch the paint.  The kids loved chasing it off.  They even tried to catch it but it was too fast.

When you do homeschooling, you can kind of do whatever you want.  We took one day and taught the kids about planting seeds.  We really want spring to get here fast so that we can plant our garden.  Since winter lasts forever here, spring is still about a month or more away.  Because of this, we tried planting our seeds in a mini garden.  Using an old egg carton, we used the individual holes as spots for our seeds.  Hopefully they grow!

Then we got out our wheat grinder and showed the kids how the pioneers used to grind wheat for flour to make their bread.  The boys absolutely loved grinding the wheat and did not want to stop.  Even Charlotte took a turn at the crank.

  We ground enough wheat for about 10 cups of flour.  Over the next couple of days, we made wheat pancakes and 8 loaves of wheat bread.  It was so good but we were very gassy... I guess we need to get used to wheat if we need to eat our food storage.

Our family has been doing some fun activities over the past couple weeks but the majority of the time is spent in blanket forts:

The kids have been getting out every blanket they could find and building forts.  They have also loved sleeping on the fold out couch downstairs.  They love having "sleepovers" in each others' rooms as well as downstairs.  I guess it is good to be a little lenient during crazy times as these!

We have been blessed during this time and have enjoyed spending more time as a family.  Thankfully Russell is still able to work because his job is considered "essential."  I know many people have not been as fortunate as us.  Hopefully these two weeks away from everyone helps slow the spread of this disease.

Going to the Temple

Emily received her limited use temple recommend a few weeks ago and we were finally able to go to the temple for the first time with her this week.  

While Russell watched the kids, Emily and I spent the day at the temple. She was so excited to go.  Grandma Maxwell had given her a name to do the baptism for so we took that along with us as well.

Her recommend enabled her to do Baptisms and Confirmations for the Dead.  It had been a long time since I had done Baptisms for the Dead and I have never been to the Baptistery in the Logan Temple so I didn't really know what to expect.  Both of us were new to this so I am so glad that the temple workers are always so helpful.  We walked in and told them this was her first time at the temple.  They were so excited for Emily and showed us just want to do.

Emily was able to be baptized for our family name as well as a sheet of the temple names.  There have been a lot of changes since I was in Young Womens and doing Baptisms for the Dead.  Now, the kids are the witnesses and the Priests can do the baptisms.  Emily was baptized by a 16 or so year old boy and it was cool because he looked like Uncle Tyler.  He must have been pretty strong because when he brought Emily up out of the water, she basically flew out of the water.  He was a little less forceful on the following baptisms. 

Then, after drying off and changing, Emily was able to do the confirmations for the dead.  The cool thing about that was that the dad to the boy that baptized her, was able to do the confirmations.  She did the confirmation for the family name as well as some temple names.

I feel like this was a really good experience for Emily.  She had a lot of fun and cannot wait to go back.  Now that we know what to do, we will be more prepared next time.  

That afternoon, we found out that the Church was closing all temples for a while because of a new virus called COVID-19 or the Corona Virus.  All the temples will be closed on March 16.  Because of this, I decided to go back to the temple the next day and get all of the work done for this family name.  This was an interesting experience for me.  I have never spent the day in the temple before.  It was pretty amazing!  With all that is going on and the uncertainty in the world right now, being in the temple gave me peace.  I did every ordinance for this person.  First was the initiatory.  This was interesting because, for some reason, I was put into the Spanish booth.  I was kind of disappointed because I had know idea what they were saying to me in the Initiatory.  On the other hand, I knew what they were saying was true and necessary even if I didn't understand.  Next was the endowment session.  I love doing endowment sessions because I am reminded of the covenants and promised blessings I have made in the temple.  I also love going into the Celestial Room, my favorite room in the temple.  Finally, I took the name up to the Sealing Rooms to have her sealed to her parents.  This was also a good experience.  Not only did I get my name finished, but I was able to help another lady get a lot of her ancestors' work done.  This was a great day in the temple.  I also cannot wait for the temples to open again so I can go back.

I love to see (and go to) the Temple!

Red Mountain Dirty Hurty 30K

Well the day finally came for the Red Mountain Dirty Hurty 30K.  This is the trail run I had been training for all winter.  While I did not have a lot of trail running practice, I did work on building my miles up for this.  Emily and Colby had music testing with AIM this weekend so Russell stayed home with them while I took Logan down with me.  Charlotte was going to go with me but she woke up sick on the morning I was leaving.  So she got to stay home with the dad and the other kids.  

On Friday morning, Logan and I headed to St. George.  We stopped in Ogden on the way and picked up my friend, Heidi, and she rode down with us.  She was also running the race with me.  It was fun driving down with her and getting caught up on the things happening in her life.  We were also running the race with our other friend, Trista.  We were all friends with each other as kids and through high school but after high school we all just went our separate ways.  We've gotten together a few times since then and it is nice to know that we are still friends despite the years without seeing each other.  

  Doing races with these two has become a fun tradition.  First, Trista and I did the St. George Marathon.  Then, we all ran the Snow Canyon Half Marathon.  Now Trista said it was her turn to choose a race and she chose this 30K trail run.  Both Heidi and I were a little nervous about this race because it was something we had never done before.  We took the plunge though and signed up for the race with Trista.

On the morning of the race, Trista picked us both up and we headed to the finish line of the race.  From there, we rode the bus to the starting line in Santa Clara.  

It was a little chilly in the morning but we knew it would warm up quickly.  I am used to running in less than 30 degree weather so I was worried that I would not be ready for the heat of St. George.  It turned out to be okay though.  

Finally it was time to start the race.  As we took off, Trista warned us not to start too fast because we had a long way to go and a lot of hills to go up.  She was right so we paced ourselves.  The best part of the race was watching the sunrise as we were running through the trails.  It was so beautiful!

The whole race took place on the mountain bike trails in the Red Mountain reserve between Santa Clara and Ivins.  The trails were really tight and narrow with a ton of rocks.  Everyone had to run single file along the trails.  It was pretty cool to look out over the course and see runners snaking their way up the switchbacks of the hills.

Unfortunately after the first mile or so, Trista and I got ahead of Heidi and didn't see her again until the finish line.  Trista and I were able to stick together for the whole race so it was fun chatting with her and running with her.

We had to stop for a few quick pictures of the awesome sunrise and scenery along the trail.  The run was actually quite fun and much more laid back than the other races I have done.  Trail runners are much more friendly than road racers.  We talked to quite a few people along the trail.  Since we had to run single file, we all paced each other and encouraged each other.

While we were running, the race photographers took these awesome pictures of us.

We wanted to be cool and do a jumping picture but it didn't really turn out as awesome as we expected.  Well, Trista looked fine but I just look like I an going to fall down.  As it turned out, I did fall down right after this picture.  I totally tripped on a rock and just went down right on my knee.  I was so embarrassed... My knee stung a bit so I had to walk it off.  After walking a few steps, it felt better so we took off running again.  

There were rock everywhere that were tripping us up but I was doing so good so far.  I had hurdled sage brush bushes, outrun a trip, and twisted my ankle a bunch of times but I had not fallen yet.  I thought I was doing so good but nope I went down.  After this fall, I tried to be even more careful.  As we started the final loop, however, I hit another rock and went down even harder this time.  I was okay, nothing was hurt except a bunch of road rash on my hands and a bruised knee.  Trista and I pushed on though and kept running.  

The last 4 miles or so of the race were the hardest and we walked a lot.  These miles were all up hill along slick rocks and sandstone.  The rocks felt like stairs or stadiums.   Our legs were pretty dead by this point.  I was afraid I would trip again because I couldn't lift my legs high enough to get over the rocks.  We were not the only ones walking though so we didn't feel too bad.  Finally, the last 2 miles the trail turned downward leading to Ivins.  We finally were able to run without fear of tripping so we took off.  Trista must have had a left over energy reserve because she took off and I couldn't catch her this time.  As we approached the Unity Park in Ivins, I could finally see the finish line.  Then I saw Logan and my parents.    

I told Logan to run to the finish with me because I was tired and needed his help.  We ran to the finish line together.  It was really fun for both of us.

I had made it!  I had finished my first Ultra Trail Run!

I was glad to be done and excited that I all my hard work during the winter had paid off.  The crazy thing about this race was that the mileage was off by a lot.  Rather than being a 30K (or 18 miles), the race ended up being 20.5 miles!  I was able to finish in 3:43 which is about an 10:52 min/mile.  Our goal was a 10:30 minute mile so we were pretty close.  

No trail run would be complete with out an injury.  Here is mine.  I had minor road rash on my shoulder, arm, and hands. The worst was my knee.  It was pretty banged up, bruised, and swollen. My pants were also ripped at the knee...

We were all glad to be finished and were so happy with our efforts.  We were worried about Heidi because we didn't see her come in for a while.  But when she came in, she was happy.  She said she loved running the trails and seeing the scenery as well.  

The best part of this race was the post race food!  They had everything we could ever want.  We ate bean and cheese quesadillas, protein shakes, M&Ms, pickles, chips, Hi-Chews, and much more.  It was awesome!!  We basically ate lunch there!

Here we are looking awesome and showing off our medals!! Way to go, Ladies!

After the race, we decided to hang out for a while.  Trista drove us around showing us some fun hiking trails. Then we stopped at Frost Top for some ice cream and Piccadilly chips.  We had a great time together.  

The next day my legs were pretty sore!  When I picked up Heidi to head home, she was walking pretty stiff as well.  We were both sore but glad we pushed ourselves to do something hard.

Literacy Night

Literacy Night happens every year during the first week in March.  This night is something the elementary school puts on to celebrate all of the good things the kids are learning in the areas of literacy, reading, writing, and the language arts.  We love participating in this because the kids get free books, and they get to show off in their classroom plays.

First, we watched Logan sing and recite a few poems with the other first graders.  This started the night off. It has been fun watching all of the kids sings these songs and poems when they were in first grade.

Next, we went to Colby's classroom where he participated in reading a few "two voice" poems with some of the other kids in his class. Colby's poems were all about bugs so they made funny bug hats to wear while reading.  They all did a great job.

During the Literacy night, Emily and her friend, Ayzleigh, had a craft sale to raise money for the school gardens.  They want to get these gardens up and running so that when they get into sixth grade, they can use them.  They had a pretty successful sale and made a little over $200! 

This next picture doesn't have anything to do with literacy night but it is something I have been working on. 

I made another T-shirt quilt top.  This one is made of all of Russell's fire and EMS shirts he has collected over the years.  I bordered it with a flame material.  I think it turned out good.  

Good job everyone.

Happy 9th Birthday, Colby!

Happy birthday to Colby!  I can't believe he is already 9 years old.  Just one more year and he will be in the double digits!  Colby had a fun birthday this year.  We decided to just have a family party this year and it was great to be together celebrating this boy.

Colby wanted a rocket ship cake so we searched Pinterest for the best cake and this is what he decided on.  I think it looks pretty cool and he really liked it too. 

Charlotte had to get in on the pictures too. She loves taking pictures and Colby was a nice big brother and let her in.

On the morning of his birthday, Colby got to open a few presents before school.  He loved his new shirt and especially his new shoes that he desperately needed.

After school, we headed into town to meet Russell for dinner. Russell took a few hours off work so that we could all go out to eat for Colby's birthday.   We decided on Pizza Pie Cafe because that is Colby's favorite.  We always eat way too much pizza while we are there but the dessert pizza is so good!  When we got home, Colby opened a few more presents.  He loved his Legos and his model car kit.

His favorite gift, by far, though was his new bike!

This bike was something Colby had had his eye on for a while so he was so happy.  This bike is much bigger than his old bike.  It also has gears and hand brakes.  These things are going to take getting used to but Colby was up for the challenge.  He conquered these things within the first few times riding.  

We spent the rest of the night building and playing Legos which is something Colby loves.

Finally, it was cake time.

Instead of putting the candles on top of the cake, we put the candles at the bottom of the rocket ship so that it looked like the flames from the rocket blasting off.  It was so cool.  We all enjoyed some more cake and ice cream even though we were still stuffed from Pizza Pie Cafe.

Colby is a great son. He likes to build things and think things out in his own time.  He likes spending time alone but also likes being crazy sometimes.  Colby is quite smart and is at the top of his class. He loves learning anything about science and loves reading books that are full of facts.  He is constantly telling me about the different facts he is learning or asking me, "did you know..." questions.  Colby loves being outdoors riding his bike, playing soccer or basketball, jumping on the trampoline, or just having fun.  Colby also likes to have things his way.

Happy 9th Birthday, Colby! We love you so much!